Long March-5 heavy-lift carrier rocket launched

In south China's Hainan province, the country has launched its new generation heavy-lift carrier rocket - the Long March-5. The launch took place at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket is expected to become the main carrier for China's space station, and its lunar and Mars missions.

The Long March 5 carrier rocket is now blasting off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province. The whole world is watching China's widest, biggest and most powerful rocket making its maiden launch into space. Propelled with a combination of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, this 800-ton giant will enter low-earth orbit in about 30 minutes.

It's capable of carrying payloads of 25 tons into low-earth orbit, three times greater than previous rockets.

40 minutes after the launch, the chief commander announced it was a success.

"I now announce, the first launch of a Long March-5 carrier rocket has been a complete success!" said Wang Jingzhong, Chief Commander of Long March-5 Maiden Launch Mission.

Before China, only the US and Europe had the ability to send such heavy hardware into space. But this launch officially makes China the third.

"We have just witnessed ten engines firing at the same time -- a spectacular launch of our country's new generation rocket the Long March-5, with a bigger thrust than any other Chinese rockets," said Tian Yulong, Secretary-General of China National Space Administration.

"According to the latest monitoring figures, the load carried by the Long March-5 is now in a normal orbit. This makes the maiden launch of the Long March-5 carrier rocket a complete success."

Launching this new generation rocket, with hundreds of advanced technologies, was quite a difficult assignment. But its success meant the world to the engineers and experts who toiled to get it right

"Our Long March Five has proven itself, China's aerospace industry has proven itself, and I feel very, very proud," said Hu Xudong, Field Commander of Long March-5 Maiden Launch Mission.

The Long March-5 rocket will also carry China's cargo space plane Tianzhou into space and launch the lunar sample return mission, Chang'e-5 in 2017.